Hidden Within
by Dragonic-blast
Summary: Demons have attacked some villages nearby and Tsunade thinks Konoha is next. Tenten has her mind on protecting Konoha but what is those glimpses of that little girl with brown hair, oddly like herself? And why does she suddenly care about demons?
1. Happy 16th Birthday!

**Hey there! This is the rewrited version of "Demons and half-demons". Somehow I just couldn't let this story go, I thought about the story at least one time every day... It's my nemesis! But I couldn't continue the old story because I think I got lost somewhere in my plot... Seriously, I have no idea what happened. Well, I hope this enjoys you at least a little. ^^**

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Hidden Within

Chaper 1

Demons

* * *

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune rushed into the hokage office with a horrified expression. Tsunade calmly looked up from her smoking cup of tea.

"What's the matter, Shizune? I'm busy." Tsunade nodded towards a dark man in front of her that hold a cup of tea in his hands as well.

"Gomenasai Tsunade-sama, but it's important." Shizune bowed in respect before she continued. "Another neighbor village has burned down! Tsunade-sama, this is the _fourth _in two weeks!" Tsunade cursed under her breath.

"Any survivors?" Tsunade absentmindedly asked. Herself she was far away in her thoughts. She could feel the dark man's eyes on her. She didn't want to meet them.

"Very few, I'm afraid." Shizune answered in a sad voice. "According to the survivors everything happened very fast. The village didn't even suffer from drought. It's all very strange." The dark man was watching Shizune intensely as she spoke. It made her very uncomfortable. The man had a kind of scary appearance. With his long black hair tied back, his sharp and vigilant grey-green eyes and his rough skin full of scars he reminded Shizune of an animal; A dangerous animal.  
The eye-contact broke immediately as the noise of chair legs scratching against the wood floor was heard. Tsunade walked up to the window behind her and her desk and looked out over the lively Konoha.

"Send some allies to help them restore the most important things like the fields and farms. Send also some provisions with them." Tsunade ordered after a while of silence. Shizune nodded, bowed and rushed out.

When the door was properly shut the dark man spoke up,

"You know what this all is, don't you?" His voice was deep and gruff his face on the other hand stayed emotionless. Tsunade threw the man a look over her shoulder and sighed.

"I should have known this visit wasn't just for 'catching up'. Tsunade said in a grim voice. "You knew about all this, didn't you Torau? The man smirked and chuckled.

"About the village? Nah! I-"

"Don't play games with me Torau!" Tsunade interrupted in a dangerous tone. "You know very well what I mean. Now, let me rephrase the question, _how _long have you known about this?" Torau watched Tsunade with an amusement written in his odd colored eyes.

"Does it really matter?" Torau lifted an eyebrow in question. Tsunade watched him intensely a while before she sighed and answered.

"I guess not. But why now, Torau? They haven't been active in many years." Torau snorted and pointed at his scarred face. Tsunade grinned. "Okay, not _very _active then."

"Do they need reasons? They're heartless creatures, Tsunade. They kill for _fun_." Torau said in disgust. Tsunade stayed silent and watched her precious village.

"I can't do this again, Torau. I really can't" Tsunade finally spoke. "I'm not **that **person anymore." Torau narrowed his eyes at her words.

"Let me get this straight, you're going to sit down and abandon the people out there…" Torau paused and pointed to the window where Tsunade stood. "Only because 'you're not **that **person anymore'?" Torau imitated in a mockery voice. He snorted.

"Then, I guess you really aren't **that **person anymore." With that he stood up and leaved. Leaving Tsunade out of words and completely lost.

* * *

"Hurry up my fellow teammates! Our youthful hokage is waiting for us!" Lee's loud voice was heard at least five quarters away. His 'fellow' teammates sighed. They were already practically running up the stairs in the hokage building but with a look at each other, they speeded up anyway. Neither Neji nor Tenten were in the mood to argue with Lee right now.  
The three of them had recently come back from a mission in the Hidden Mist Village and had immediately been informed that the hokage wanted to see them. Tenten thought that had been very unnecessary, they'd eventually end up there to report their success anyway.

"Gomenasai, Hokage-sama!" Lee shouted –or said it's hard to notice the difference- as he slammed the door open to the hokage office. Tenten could feel the irritation vibrate from the prodigy beside her, he didn't like Lee's absentminded and -not intended but still- respect less behavior.

They weren't the only one being called Tenten realized surprised. It was true, the actually quite small office was filled with their friends from team 7, 8 and 10 which all had their shoulders up to their ears after almost being startled to death by Lee's sudden entrance.

"Bushy-brows! Tenten! Neji! Hey!" Naruto was the first to recover of course, him and his easy-going nature.

"Naruto! My youthful friend! It's been awhile!" Lee beamed. Tenten simply smiled and Neji gave the Uzumaki a short nod.  
Lee eagerly turned to the only female in team 7, Sakura Haruno.

"How have you been my beautiful Sakura-chan?" Tenten rolled her eyes to the uncomfortable pink haired kunochi and mouthed at her to ignore the spandex-wearing moron. Not that Lee's obsession over Sakura was any secret but it was obviously uncalled for in front of the hokage and sensei.  
Tenten still felt a sting of jealousy for not being picked as her idol's student. When she first heard that Tsunade had picked Sakura instead of her it had been like a punch in the stomach. She wasn't worthy, she wasn't strong enough… it hurt as hell to know.  
She tried her best to not be rude to Sakura though, she liked the temperamental and pretty girl.

"Well, you three look fresh." Kiba commented and grinned from the corner where he stood with his teammates Hinata Hyuuga and Shino Aburame.  
Look fresh? Tenten bet they did. They probably smelled nice too but it wasn't their fault they hadn't been able to shower before they came.

"We just came back from a mission in the Hidden Mist." Neji answered with no tone whatsoever in his voice.

"An A-ranked!" Lee filled in proudly, earning an annoyed look from Neji.

"Aww! That's _sooo _not fair!" Naruto whined. "I've been stuck in this village for ages!" Neji smirked. He got a kick out of being chosen for a mission over Naruto. Ever since Naruto defeated Neji in the chuunin exams Neji have tried his best to beat and surpass Naruto in any kind of way… Tenten was sensible enough to not point out that it was kind of Lee-style…  
Anyway, Neji's ego would live long on this.

"We had a mission last week." The newest member of team 7, Sai, pointed out. Naruto waved his hand dismissingly.

"It was C-ranked Sai! Even a genin would have made it!" Naruto turned so everyone could hear and see him before he started his story. "It was an old man that had got his potatoes stolen, seriously stolen potatoes?" Neji's smirk grew. Oh, he was _sooo _enjoying this.  
"You wanna know how it turned out?" Naruto asked sullenly. "It turned out that they didn't get stolen his wife had only placed them somewhere else and forgot to tell him." Everyone laughed, well except for Neji and Shikamaru then, they were content with smirking.

"Hey! At least they were nice and treated us dinner!" Sakura defended the old couple. Naruto rolled his eyes to Sai.

"Yeah! Smashed potatoes!" Everybody laughed harder, well except for… ah, you get the picture. Sakura blushed but stuck loyally to what she started.

"I didn't see you complaining when you took a second portion!" Naruto opened his mouth to defend his pride but found he didn't have anything to say. Sakura smirked, satisfied over her win.

"Whatever!" Naruto said with a hint of pink on his cheeks and turns for the first time to the hokage. "I still think you should stop sending us out on suck lousy missions Tsunade-baa…" Naruto stopped in the middle of the sentence when he saw the look the hokage gave him.

"Are you done?" Tsunade asked icily. Naruto just nodded. "Good!" Tsunade folded her hands and looked at all of the gathered in turn. Tenten swore she could cut the seriousness in the air with a knife.

"Demons. What do you know about them?" Tenten – along with all the others – stare at the hokage disbelievingly. Kiba make words out of what everyone's thinking,

"You can't be serious." Tsunade's hard gaze fastens on the Inuzuka.

"Does it look like I'm kidding?" Tsunade's voice is a threat that tells everybody not to answer that. "People disappear without a trace, small villages nearby burns down and no one knows how it started, animals are suddenly turning against their owners… This is all a demons work!" Kiba flinch at Tsunade's words.

"What kind of demons are we talking about here?" Shikamaru asks calmly, opening his mouth for the first time. Tsunade throws him an appreciated look.

"Good question, Shikamaru." Tsunade compliments. "We're not talking about the kind of demon you've got inside of you now, Naruto. We're talking about a human that's entirely demon." Tsunade informed almost solemnly.

"How can he be entirely demon and still be human?" Ino asks confused. Tsunade sighs in annoyance.

"It's a _demon _in a _human _form, Ino!" Tsunade answers between gritted teeth. Ino mutters something like 'well _excuse me _for asking!" under her breath. Luckily Tsunade didn't catch it.

"Look, these demons look like every other human on this earth except for **one** thing: Their eyes are purple." It seemed like Tsunade was about to continue but she stopped when she saw the clear doubt in her audience's faces. She sank deeper into her chair with a sigh. "You don't really believe me, now do you?" Her voice was tired, tired and feeble.

"G-gomenasai Tsunade-sama, i-it's not that we question your belief or anything… b-but we've never heard of such a thing…" Hinata – who clearly had noticed Tsunade's tone too – explained quickly but softly too. It was something only Hinata could do. Naruto nodded eagerly.

"Yeah! What Hinata-chan said!" Hinata blushed at the backing-up from her secret crush, well secret to Naruto that is.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." Sakura smiled. "Calm down and tell us everything from the beginning." A small smile light up Tsunade's tired face.

"Alright then…" Tsunade took a deep breath before she started. "Demons aren't really something new; they've existed since time immemorial but it was early decided that demons and shinobi shouldn't mix."

"Why is that?" Neji asked.

"Well, you see… The demons' black magic is somehow related to the chakra we use in our jutsus. It's an odd tension between them and that leads to that we can never be quite sure what's going to happen." Tsunade explained, using her hands to demonstrate the tension between a demon's black magic and a shinobi's chakra.

"So jutsus won't…" Kiba began but got interrupted by Tsunade.

"They **may**. But it's a big risk they'll fail too… it's fifty fifty." Kiba gulped. Everyone else in the room felt a little uneasy too, what would happen to _them_ if a jutsu failed leaved unsaid.

"So if jutsus wo- _may not _work, what will?" Tenten wondered.

"There is this flower, _Lilium medeoloides_… Do you know about it, Ino?" Tsunade looked at the girl she earlier hissed at. Luckily Ino wasn't one to remember things long past.

"_Wheel Lily" _Ino translated with a smile. This was her element. Tsunade grinned.

"Exactly! Well, this flower is very rare and grows only in the Hidden Waterfall Village as I know. Anyway, the poison from this flower is harmless to us humans but for a demon it's deadly." A few grins were forming in Tsunade's audience, maybe there was something they could do after all.

"But as I said, the flower is rare and the elders in the Hidden Waterfall Village aren't really generous with it." Tsunade said annoyed. She hated those stuck up pensioners. "With the right amount everything can be fixed of course but we can't afford the prize they want… Which means…" Tsunade grinned and winked. Everyone else grinned with her; they knew _exactly _what it meant.

"Oh Yeah! Finally some action!" Naruto shouted and threw his fist in the air. Choji and Ino high-fived and Shino nodded to Neji.

"I feel that Ino should absolutely go because she knows how the flower looks… and Hinata's byakugan could definitely be at use too." Tsunade pondered loudly. "Ino, Hinata and Naruto! Are you up for some illegal business?" Tsunade's eyes twinkled. This was absolutely the fun part with being hokage, the paperwork to be damned.

"_Oh, __**yes!**_" Naruto cheered. "I promise you Tsunade-baa-chan! We'll come back with all the flowers that grows in that village!" Naruto gave the hokage thumbs up.

"No!" Tsunade and Ino shouted at the same time. Sakura punched the moron in the head.

"_One _flower Naruto! _One flower_! Do you get that?" Naruto stared I disbelief at his hokage.

"No way! How big is this flower? There's no way we can get enough poison from one of those things!" Everyone in the room stared at Naruto, taken aback by his stupidity.

"What?" Naruto clearly didn't get why everyone was staring at him. Sometimes Tenten wondered if he was just playing with them, there was no way he could actually be this dumb.

"Umm… N-naruto-kun…" Hinata began, uncertain how she should put this to get it as nice as possible. "Y-you know that f-flowers g-gr-grow from seeds, r-right?" Naruto nodded impatiently. "Well, f-from one flower we c-can get enough seeds to g-grow as m-many we need on o-our own…" An 'Oh!'- expression light up Naruto's face.

"Now you get it?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow at the blonde.

"Yes ma'am!" It was obvious that Tsunade tried her hardest not to kick his ass. Tenten didn't know if it was Naruto's intention to test Tsunade's nerves. The guy's head was one big mystery.

"The mission is simple, get inside the borders preferable undiscovered, get the flower and come home. Try to avoid violence. " Tsunade said and ignored Naruto's pout. Ino and Hinata nodded.

"For the rest of you…" Tsunade turned to the others that wasn't a part of the mission to the Hidden Waterfall Village. "Some demon-killing training is up starting tomorrow morning. We must be prepared if some demon decides to try and attack our village." Tsunade informed us in her business voice. Tenten and the others nodded.

"Well, I guess this is all I have for now…" Tsunade said and everyone in the room started to straighten themselves up and prepare to leave. "Wait! Team Gai stays, the rest of you are dismissed." Tsunade said in the last minute and Tenten groaned inwardly. She really wanted to shower.

"How did your mission in the Hidden Mist go?" Tsunade asked them when the door behind their friends was closed.

"It was successful. We got the scroll." Neji answered and gave Tsunade the scroll he had been keeping in his pocket.

"Excellent!" Tsunade praised. "Was there any need for violence?" Tsunade asked as she put the scroll in one of her drawers.

"Some lousy chuunin attacked us once on our way back but that was all." Neji answered and smirked. Tsunade grinned and shook her head.

"We won!" Lee obviously needed to point out. Tenten giggled, Lee was so clueless. Neji rolled his eyes at his male teammate. Sometimes he wondered what he really did in his team. Tsunade chuckled.

"Well, I guess you're dismissed then." Tsunade grinned. But then she remembered something. "Oh and Tenten?" Although Tsunade only called for the female of the team the two males turned around too clearly curious – one of them showed it more than the other - .

"Happy 16th Birthday!" Tenten smiled and nodded. Glad that her idol remembered after all.

* * *

**This was surprisingly fun to write... Quite relaxing actually. ^^ Hope you liked it! **


	2. Training

**New chapter! I thought I'd have it up by two days ago but nooooooo, suddenly everyone wants me everywhere. . It all kinds of different shit that I need to do with people and stuff I need to do. GAH!  
I wanna move... **

**Enough of my personal issues! Please enjoy!**

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Hidden Within

Chapter 2

Training

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Tenten sighed exhausted when she closed the door to her apartment behind her. The clock wasn't so much, about 7 pm Tenten believed, but it had been a long day. When she earlier that day had returned home from the hokage's meeting she had barely managed to get out of the shower before the doorbell rang. All of her friends stood outside and waited to take her out for dinner, obviously Lee had been running around in the village and telling everybody that it was her birthday and insisting that they'd do something for her.  
It wasn't like they took her somewhere special - they took her to Ichiraku's – but Tenten was still touched. They had a great time too, laughing and talking about everything and nothing.

Tenten turned on the lights in her apartment and threw her bag at the armchair in the corner of the cloakroom. Tenten wasn't really a neat one; she thought it was more comfy if random stuff were spread all around the place.

Tenten took of her shoes and went to make herself some tea. She was as addicted to tea as others were addicted to coffee. If she didn't drink at least three cups a day, she'd be all grumpy and irritated. One of her hobbies was also to predict the future in the tea nouns, not that she really believed in it but it was fun.  
As long as the teapot warmed her tea Tenten changed from her red, Chinese-styled dress to a pair of sweatpants and a plain t-shirt. This was her favorite moment of the day; when the training was over, when she could put on whatever she liked without having to wonder what everyone else thought about it and when all you could hear was the teapot that was whistling soothingly.

Tenten took the teapot off of the hotplate, poured herself a cup of tea and sat down on the very comfortable, brown armchair in the living room. She softly blew on the tea before she took a small sip. The hot, bitter drink burned in her throat but it had a calming effect on her nevertheless.  
Tenten looked out on the full moon that was rising while she continued to take small sips of her tea. It was moments like this when Tenten found it hard to believe that she actually was fighting thieves and murders on daily basis, the world seemed so peaceful.

.-.-.

_The little girl didn't care that the area was unfamiliar or that all the people were unfamiliar, that just made everything more entertaining. She played that she was an investigator that recently had found a new village and was ordered to supervise the people and their behavior.  
After watching the people for a while the brown haired little girl was utterly bored. The people here weren't any different from the people she had watched in the other villages; small children pulled their mama's skirts and whined about something, sellers were fighting with other sellers about which one of them that had better food, bigger girls stood together in groups and giggled… everything was so typical… boring. _

"_Hey! Get back here you rascals!" An old man shouted after some boys in her age that ran away laughing, holding some apples and a little bread in their hands. They passed the little girl still laughing. One of the boys looked at the old man they had stolen from, over his shoulder and grinned. _

"_Thiazzi! The old man's not following us!" He shouted to another boy that was leading the way. The boy, whose name obviously was Thiazzi, looked back on the boy that shouted at him and grinned as well. _

"_Told ya he wouldn't! He's way to slow to be able to catch up with us!" The little girl wondered if she should tell them that…_

_BONK_

… _Oh well, too late. All the boys had collided with a couple of guards that was looking down on them glaring. The boys crawled quickly backwards on their butts in fright. _

"_Not so fast scamps!" One guard lifted Thiazzi in the back of his neck roughly. Thiazzi sprawled, desperately trying to get out of the man's hold. _

"_It's illegal to steal, do you know that?" The guard asked in a dangerous tone. Thiazzi nodded quickly he was getting out of air. _

"_Hey! Let him go you big gorilla! You're killing him!" One of the other boys shouted at the guard. His eyes twitched slightly at the insult. The little girl giggled, the boys were really funny._

"_Yeah, and you're next!" The cocky boy flinched at the guard's answer. The little girl didn't want the boys to die, she liked them. Maybe she should save them…_

"_Please don't kill my brothers, mister…" The little girl said quietly and sadly. Everyone turned around and looked at her confused. She wanted so tremendously to giggle but she kept her expression in check._

"_We're orphaned… our parents died some days ago…" She continued adding a small sob as effect. "We're starving, mister… We're gonna die!" The girl looked up at the guards with a very good – she had practiced many times – sad expression. The guards however didn't seem to buy it. _

"_Let the kids go, Arashi! The poor children are just hungry!" A woman suddenly shouted at the guards. Agreeing mumbles could be heard among the crowd that had been formed around the fuss. Arashi's hold on Thiazzi gentled slightly, he seemed torn between letting them go and punishing them. _

"_Alright then…" Arashi finally let go of Thiazzi that almost was blue in the face due to lack of oxygen. "But don't let me catch you doing this again!" Arashi threatened one last time before he and the other guards stomped away. The crowd around us immediately disappeared too. _

"_Who are you?" One of the boys asked finally after staring at the little girl that just had saved their lives. "Naoko!" Thiazzi quickly scolded the straight-forward guy. He smiled warmly at the little girl. _

"_Thank you for the help there… We really needed it!" Thiazzi said bashfully. "You know… we could use someone like you in our group…" _

"_What?" The other boys asked in disbelief at the same time. The girl giggled once again. "She's a __**girl**__, Thiazzi!" The way the boy said 'girl' was as if they were rabies-smitten.  
Thiazzi seemed to be the leader of the gang, he was obviously the oldest too… maybe that was what made him the leader._

"_So?" Thiazzi asked stubbornly. "Can you cry us out of trouble? Let's face it, will ya? We need her!" Thiazzi grinned at the girl that was quietly almost shyly watching them argue. _

"_So what do you say?" Thiazzi asked with a grin. The brown haired small girl did notice that he hadn't told her exactly what she was joining but the boys were funny and she was growing tired of being alone anyway. _

"_Sure!" She beamed. Her voice was clear and light. And her brown eyes shone of happiness. She had found a home._

_.-.-. _

Tenten's eyes shot open. Oh God, her head hurt as hell! Tenten groaned. She had obviously fallen asleep in the armchair.  
It was pitch black outside so Tenten guessed the clock was about midnight.

When Tenten stood up something cracked under her feet. It was porcelain shreds. Tenten groaned once again. She had been drinking tea when she fell asleep; the cup had of course fallen out of her hands. But she didn't understand why she hadn't waken by the sound. She was a light-sleeper.  
But then again, she had been really exhausted. The dream witnessed of that too, you only dream when you sleep very well.

It had been a cute dream, and strangely real. But Tenten didn't have the stamina to wonder about that now; she was still tired and she needed to get the shreds up off the floor.  
She went after the brush and the dustpan and started to sweep the shreds off the floor. Then something caught her eye.  
On the floor, a little way from the shreds, laid the tea nouns that she had made the tea out of. Tenten looked closer at the model they were forming. One of the tea nouns laid on another, they formed a cross.  
Tenten gaped in surprise. It wasn't any doubt what it meant.

Crosses meant trouble.

* * *

"Everyone, this is Torau Miyake. An… old firend of mine." Tsunade began hesitatingly. "He'll be the one to teach you how to slay demons." Everyone stared at the dark man that Tsunade just had introduced.

"Hello." He greeted simply. Tenten sighed inwardly. He was obviously a tyrant… this would be a lot of fun.

"I guess I'll leave you to your training then…" Tsunade bid them goodbye, but not before throwing a hesitating look towards their expressionless trainer.

"So…" Torau began when Tsunade was out of sight. "What has Tsunade told you about demons so far?" Tenten watched Torau carefully as Sakura summed up pretty much what Tsunade had told them yesterday. Torau snorted when she was finished. But after that his face became expressionless again, Tenten guessed that it was supposed to be his serious expression.

"You don't know nearly enough about demons to start training yet." Torau said and sat down on a stone nearby. This was obviously going to take a while.

"Excuse me… sensei…." Sakura didn't know how to address this scarred man that to her was freaking scary. Torau's mouth twitched upwards at the nickname, so obviously it was accepted. Sakura relaxed. "…But how come you know so much about demons?" Torau seemed completely taken aback by the question.

"… Tsunade… didn't tell you that?" Tenten was sure his chocked expression wasn't fake. He seemed totally surprised. Torau looked around among the crowd after some confirmation that their hokage after all had told them about whatever he aimed at. He swore under his breath when he found none.

"You see, kids… I'm a demon haunter." Everybody looked at him as if he had grown another head. He couldn't be serious, now could he?

"Yeah, **right**!" Kiba frowned of amusement. Tenten suddenly realized how alike Kiba and Naruto were. It was clear now when Naruto, Ino and Hinata were away on that mission to the Hidden Waterfall. Kiba exactly just said what Naruto would have said. Wonderful. Two Narutos.

"I'm telling the truth, dog!" Torau snapped. Kiba's eyes narrowed at the insult. If Tenten knew Kiba enough he probably wasn't insulted by being called dog but he probably was insulted _for _the dogs when they were being compared to humans. If that made any sense at all.

"I'm a demon haunter and my job is to sleigh the heartless creatures." _Oh, he's one of __**those **_Tenten thought surly. One of those prejudiced, limited men. Tenten narrowed her eyes in disgust.

"That's… your job?" Sakura asked in disbelief and Tenten could clearly hear the disgust in her voice. Tenten was glad someone else felt the same way about the man. Torau narrowed his eyes towards Sakura, it was clear that he had heard the undertone in her voice too.

"Yes, it is. I get paid for killing demons just as you get paid for killing people." Tenten glared at Torau. Now he was skating on thin ice.

"We don't kill _people_, we kill thieves and murders." Tenten snapped. Neji gave her a warning look Tenten chose to ignore. She didn't like this man and his one-minded way to see the world.

"And they're of course not people, right?" Torau mocked in a sarcastic voice.

"They're **traitors** who deserve to be killed." Tenten replied icily. Torau jeered.

"And demons are angelic, unselfish, the most gentle…" Torau began with a false gentle voice before Tenten interrupted him frustrated.

"I didn't say that they were! I only said that we aren't like demons that kill every people he sees. We have a reason to kill the people we kill." Tenten finished stubbornly. Torau scoffed but dropped it.

"If you ladies excuse me, I'd like to start my training now or do you still have some viewpoints you'd like to share, hm?" Tenten smirked in triumph. She had won. Torau was glaring coldly at her and she could also feel Neji's disapproving looks on her, but she ignored them both.

"Good…" Torau frowned when neither Tenten nor Sakura spoke up. "I'll let you all know something… Haunting a demon is not easy, neither is killing one." Torau rolled up one of his sleeves that was even more scarred than his face. There were cuts and bruises in all shapes and depths.

"Nowadays they're hard to recognize too, they've grown smarter during the years… their eyes don't give them away anymore." Torau informed us seriously and took up his bag from the ground and started to look after something. He threw the small package to Shikamaru when he finally found it. Everybody gathered around to see what their teacher had thrown.  
Shikamaru opened the small package and looked inside of it. He threw Torau a surprised look when he saw what was inside.

"Contact lenses?" Shikamaru stated chocked and passed the small package on so others could look. Torau nodded and smirked.

"Colored moreover." Torau added. "Pretty clever, don't you think? Now they can't get recognized by the eyes anymore." Tenten groaned inwardly. Great, exactly what they needed, more complications.

"Then how the hell are we supposed to know if it's a demon or not?" Kiba asked frustrated. Tenten shared his feelings; if it was going to be like this then the damn demon haunter could keep his damn job.

"You don't." Torau answered simply and shrugged. "At least not at first. But there's always things that gives them away at last." Torau caught his package with colored contact lenses that Sai threw back to him.

"Like?" Shino asked with raised eyebrows. Tenten always got surprised when Shino spoke, he was quiet and stood always at the edge of the group that he at last turned invisible until he asked or said something and caught her of guard and reminded her once again that he actually was with them.

"If the person's always present when something happens is a good way to know… and if someone has a strange behavior of course." Torau answered.

Tenten zoned out after that, she didn't have the energy to listen to Torau's preaches anymore. She wanted to protect her home of course, and she knew she probably should listen to what Torau said because it was important.  
The problem was that she didn't _believe _in this stuff. It seemed absurd and unreal. Tenten knew she shouldn't doubt… she had been dealing with more unreal stuff than this. But it still ticked her off. She was feeling swindled.

Demons didn't exist, right?

* * *

**You don't know how many different genres of music I've been listening to while I wrote this... it's everything from Within Temptation, P!NK, Linkin Park, Eminem, B.o.B., Nelly Furtado, 30 seconds to March and even Elvis joined in at a time. XD The list is endless... **

**Oh well! Hope you enjoyed it though! :) **

**Cya!**


	3. Just A Dream

**Yeah, I know... go ahead and kill me. It been like... 3 months? Oooops. Well, I'm sorry but I lost inspiration for a great deal of the time and then when I finally started to write again I got stuck and had to change a great deal of the original chappie + that school has started and as astonished as I'm sure you are I've actually got a life in addition to ff too. That was a loong sentence.  
Anyway, I'm sorry and I'll try to update faster next time but I can't promise anything since my examination weeks are starting. Hi! School just sux!**

* * *

Hidden Within

Chapter 3

Just A Dream

* * *

Torau watched the hokage sign paper after paper in her office, from the tree outside her window. He had more or less been following her the whole afternoon and noticed that a regular day in the hokage's life wasn't as glamorous that many thought. It comprised signing endless heaps of paper, meetings with some smug and spoiled elders and some more paper -signing.  
Torau wouldn't necessarily call this stalking; it was just an investigation in an old friend's life. Yup.

Torau had been very surprised to find out that Tsunade was hokage nowadays. He had asked for her when he first entered the village but he sure didn't expect them to show him to the hokage building. She hadn't changed much; she still looked to be in her twenties, except from some lines around the eyes Torau had assumed was from stress.  
But there was one thing that clearly had changed: her attitude towards everything he was… towards everything they once were.

Carefully and silently, to not give himself away, he climbed through the office window and landed without a sound on the floor. Torau smiled in triumph, he was still in shape.

"People normally use the door but I guess the window's okay too." Tsunade didn't even turn around when she spoke she just continued browsing through the papers on her desk. Torau got caught off guard for a moment but then he chuckled. Of course she had noticed him.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you." Torau said with faked concern in his voice. Actually he didn't give a damn. Tsunade narrowed her eyes.

"As a matter of fact you are." Tsunade finally turned on her chair to face him. She was giving him quite an impressing death glare. "You've been disturbing me the whole afternoon." Ouch. Torau grimaced. That was a blow below the belt. He had been so confident in his… **investigation **skills.

"I was only curious." Torau defended himself. "I haven't seen you in such a long time and…" Torau didn't get the chance to end that sentence.

"Don't give me that crap!" Tsunade slammed her fist into the table. Torau flinched. Tsunade watched Torau thoroughly. _He has changed_ Tsunade thought so bitterly that it even surprised herself. He wasn't the reckless and carefree moron she knew back then anymore. His looks hadn't changed much; he was still handsome as ever maybe even more handsome than before but… There was something about him… a feeling that vibrated around him constantly. He tried to hide it with chuckles and faked emotions but Tsunade could always feel it anyway. Was it bitterness? Vindictiveness? Tsunade didn't know but she knew for sure that something had changed.

"What do you _really _want, Torau?" The statement got hanged in the air for a long while. Torau seemed to ponder over the question seriously.

"When I agreed to train those brats for you…" Torau started in an absentminded voice. "… I thought you had told them everything…" Tsunade narrowed her eyes in irritation.

"You can't expect me to remember to tell them every single detail. Furthermore I was stressed and…"

"I don't give a fuck what you told and didn't tell those brats about demons!" Tsunade's eyes opened wide at Torau's furious tone. "But what I wonder is why you didn't tell them about _me_, why you didn't tell them about _us_?" The whole climate in the room changed at that statement, and it wasn't for the better. Tsunade looked as if she just got hit in the stomach.

"There never was an _us_…" Tsunade mumbled and avoided to look Torau in the eyes. Torau's eyes narrowed to slits.

"Damn well there was!" Torau was furious now. How dared she? "And you know it!" Tsunade flinched but she recovered quickly.

"Is that why you're here? To discuss something that never would have worked… something that never _did _work?" Tsunade hissed. Torau flinched. Ouch. That stung. Tsunade grimaced. Maybe she pushed it a little too far. She opened her mouth to apologize but Torau was quicker.

"Look, when I asked you why you didn't tell them about us, I didn't really mean… this…" He pointed between them to show what he meant. "I wondered why you didn't tell them about us _as demon haunters_. I think that's a detail that's pretty hard to forget." Torau gave her a crooked smile but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Tsunade sighed before she opened her mouth to speak.

"You know very well why I didn't." Her tone was completely emotionless. Tsunade could tell by the look on Torau's face that he was starting to lose his temper once again.

"No, I do not." Torau answered through resolute teeth. He was getting tired of these games. If she wanted to tell him something then she should tell him straight out, not making him guess what was going on in the brain of hers.

"That was a very… "Tsunade searched for a fitting adjective in her vocabulary. "… **Difficult** period in my life… I still mourned Dan's loss and all… Now afterwards I think that I wasn't really aware of what I was doing…" Tsunade said, and when she mentioned Dan a softer tone sneaked into her voice. Torau's eyes darkened.

"So what was I? A mistake? A temporary replacement?" Torau asked bitterly.

"You're taking this the wrong way again!" Tsunade exclaimed frustrated. "I don't understand why I bother to try to explain this to you when all you want is to start an argument. Tsunade threw her arms into the air.

"Sorry… continue please…" Torau muttered, but it didn't sound like he truly meant it. Tsunade decided to ignore the bitterness in his voice.

"I don't regret the time we shared together…" Tsunade continued softly. "You made me laugh again and you pulled me through some adventures I'll never forget, Torau… but…" Tsunade bit her lower lip, insecure how should put this to not make him angry again. "But… I _killed _him, Torau." Torau stared at her in disbelief. That was it?

"So… you've avoiding all contact with me the latest 20 years because you killed that demon?..." It was laughable really, actually he felt like laughing her straight in the face but he knew it probably wasn't the right thing to do.

Tsunade glared at him. "I wasn't –and still isn't – an emotionless monster. I don't kill if I can avoid it. And I could back then, but I still didn't stop… I've always loathed myself for what I did." Torau felt a strong urge to roll his eyes at her exaggerated drama, but restrained.

"I told you then and I'll obviously need to tell you again: he was a _demon_. _Demons _kill for fun. _The demon _deserved to die." Why did this feel so déjà vu? _Right_, Torau remembered. He had told one of those brats almost exactly the same thing earlier today.

"That one didn't necessarily need to be! He didn't seem to be so cold and heartless." Tsunade defended herself and the dead demon. This time Torau _did _roll his eyes. Here we go again.

* * *

"You shouldn't jump into arguments like that, Tenten." Neji scolded her suddenly out of the blue when he walked her home after their usual nightly sparing session. Tenten frowned. He was of course referring to the fight she had started with their demon haunting teacher earlier that day.

"He was asking for it." Tenten replied and gave Neji a look that clearly stated that he shouldn't walk further into this. He ignored her of course.

"No, he was not. He was making an innocent comparison." Tenten didn't believe what she heard. Not only was he taking his side but he was also turning his back on their job as a ninja. Well, to her he was.

"What?" Tenten hissed. "He was stating that we were ruthless killers, Neji! That we were exactly like _them_!" Neji shook his head calmly.

"Not really. He didn't mean it like that. You only heard what you wanted to hear." Tenten couldn't believe what a jackass he was sometimes. He was taking the repulsive Torau's part instead of hers. But she wasn't one to give up.

"He sure as hell did! He said and I quote 'I get paid for killing demons just as you get paid for killing people.'" Tenten spat.

"I'll admit that he didn't put it in the best way but…"

"Hah!" Tenten exclaimed, earning a glare from Neji for interrupting him. Tenten pretended to lock her mouth and throw the key over her shoulder. Neji felt a smile tug on his lips but he couldn't let her win this argument, so he stayed emotionless and continued.

"…**but **would you have if someone was asking you insolent questions?" Neji finally ended his interrupted sentence.

"I wasn't asking him any insolent questions!" Tenten defended herself.

"No, but Haruno were and…" Once again Neji got interrupted.

"Then go and scold her and not me! She more or less started it!" Tenten cried out in frustration. Neji death glared Tenten. Tenten was the only one that could really push his limits except for his uncle. Most people didn't dare to argue with him because of his status but that never really seemed to be the problem with Tenten.

"I thought your mouth was locked." Neji stated icily.

"You can't expect me to stand here quietly and listen when you're betraying everything I and you stand for as a ninja." Tenten retorted just as icily. Neji rolled his eyes at her overly dramatic antics.

"I'm not betraying anything, Tenten." Neji answered impatiently.

"Yes, you are! You're defending the man that showed no respect towards us and our… organization!"

"I'm not, I…" Neji stopped. Didn't he tell her this recently? "This is not going anywhere, Tenten. Let's just drop the subject."

…

"I liked you better when all you said was 'hn'." Tenten muttered lowly, not really intending for Neji to hear her. But being Neji Hyuuga, he did of course.

"Hn." He smirked. Tenten looked up and glared at him.

"Oh, .ha. Is that your attempt of humor? 'Cause it's pathetic." Tenten said, feeling content. How would the smartass talk his way out of this one?

"Hn." Neji's smirk grew. Tenten groaned loudly.

* * *

Tenten sighed and tossed the book she previously read aside. She had quickly come to the decision that it was pointless; she had read the same sentence five times without registering a word of it. Her mind went uninterruptedly back to the demon business how many times she ever tried to push it aside. She didn't want to think about it, it somehow pissed her off not knowing what to expect and what to not. Tenten was a control freak of nature. If there was something she didn't know about she got pissed off or panicked… it depended on the matter.  
And right now it was the pissed-off kind of matter.

Tenten closed her eyes and listened to the patter of the rain outside. She turned in her bed so she lied on her stomach. She watched the raindrops' competition of reaching to the floor first on the glass doors to the balcony. It was a competition she had played for as long as she could remember when it rained. She'd cheer on a drop and if it didn't win she'd just make up excuses for the drop like, _'that drop wasn't in the game!' _or '_oops! He sprained his ankle!'_. It'd happen that the drop she cheered on didn't go any longer or mend together with another much faster drop and then she'd make up other excuses, but the drop she cheered on would always be the hero in the end.

She was slightly aware of that it somehow was her inner self that was making up excuses for her own lack of success, but she chose to ignore that. She wasn't one for psychology anyway.

…

_She looked out from her hideout and smiled contently after the guards that ran in a completely wrong direction if they intended to actually catch her. Not that it was possible from the start she thought and smirked. She quickly counted the money she had been keeping in her pocket through the chase. Not the cleverest thing to do she had quickly realized, the coins and their jangled sound had many times given her away.  
She had 10 yen. She snorted; she had been chased for about an hour for __**10 yen**__? The seller man she had… __**borrowed **__of most be feeling very content with himself now. She cursed inwardly.  
Oh well, it may not be that much but according to Thiazzi it'd still be enough at that 'new place' he had been talking about so enthusiastically yesterday. She searched in her other pocket for the map Thiazzi hastily had sketched for her yesterday. According to the map she was supposed to head towards the harbor. _

_The harbor was very busy when she arrived, almost as busy as the market had been. Fish sellers screamed out their 'extraordinary' prices as well as they faulted the other seller's fishes and harbor workers shouted out orders time after time when ships arrived and took off. The whole place stunk fish and seaweed.  
She fished up the map out of her pocket once again and if she understood it right she'd just have to turn right here… and then it's be right in front of her. _

_Whatever she had expected, it wasn't this. In front of here it was a stand indeed, well, she didn't know if you could call it a stand exactly. The 'stand' contained everything from fish to fans and the seller man was – described in one world – gross. He wasn't from Japan that was for sure. His hair that once had been black was now grey and tufty and his skin was dark and rough. His nose was wide and there were wrinkles all over his face. When he opened his mouth you saw the gaps between his teeth.  
The man made her shiver, not because of his look in general, she had seen worse, but because of the look in his eyes when he saw women… she shivered._

_She __**really **__hoped Thiazzi was right about this place. _

_When she first began to walk towards his stand the man didn't seem to think that it was his stand that she was intending to visit, but when it couldn't be mistaken anymore he sprung to his feet in eagerness. He overturned the chair he had been sitting on earlier in the process.  
She __**did not **__like the glint in his eyes when he let his eyes quickly and with fake nonchalance sweep over her down and up. _

"_Welcome Miss!" He greeted a little too enthusiastically and with a strong accent. "What can I offer you? Shampoo? Perfume? Sanitary towels? Ahmad has everything!" She couldn't believe that he said __**sanitary towels **__unmoving. But somehow she also felt a little smug about being assumed that she was older than she really was. She was still only twelve after all. _

"_Umm… No, I'd just like some bread, please." Ahmad seemed to be taken aback by her simple request and she started to wonder if he knew what the word 'bread' meant. _

"_Just bread? Mademoiselle,__**please**__! You ask for bread when I can give you anything. __**Anything!**__" She was sure she didn't imagine the double meaning in his words. She backed reflexively. _

"… _Bread will be just fine, thank you." She assured him and flashed him a fake smile. Ahmad muttered something in a foreign language under his breath, but asked her anyway how many she wanted. _

"_Umm… what is your price?" She asked and thought about the small amount of money she had. She knew this was a stand where you haggled but with the 10 yen she had she knew she couldn't get that much. _

"_For you, mademoiselle… 7 yen." Ahmad offered in an ingratiating voice. He seriously thought she'd be honored or something by his offer. _

"_But sir…" She said with her best imitation of a sad voice, not that she needed it to fool this idiot. "I only have 10 yen…" She added a sob for affect. "And my family… they're… they're __**starving**__!" She faked more sobs and looked down and when she was sure he didn't see she rolled her eyes and smiled contently. Oh, she was good. _

"_No, no mademoiselle! Don't cry!" Ahmad cried. "You'll get… umm… three breads for your money! Fresh! I promise!" Oh, this was so easy it almost was boring. _

"…_Really? You would really do that" She looked up and faked a shocked but hopeful expression. _

"_Oui, oui, mademoiselle! Of course! For you, anything!" Again he was there with his double meaning words. Pedophile. Ahmad quickly packed down the three breads in a brown paper bag but instead of passing it to her over the stand -like normal people - he rounded the table and stopped right in front of her. He stank fish and alcohol and she had to really put some effort in her fake-grateful expression. Ahmad grinned down on her with an alarming look in his eyes. He bended down to her level so they now were face to face. _

"_Next time you need bread mademoiselle… I want you to come straight to Ahmad! No one else will do, just Ahmad!" She wanted to run away from the disgusting man but… she needed that bread. Without it she and the boys would starve. _

"_Okay, mademoiselle?" A shiver ran down her spine as he stroke her chin. She forced herself to think of the others and how happy they'd be when she returned with the bread and not how she wanted to kill that loathsome, perverted man. She nodded as an answer. _

"_Good." Ahmad rose and handed her the bag with the breads. She quickly snatched it from his hands and turned around and ran home without ever looking back. It wasn't before she stood in front of her door that she realized that she was crying. She wiped the tears from her face angrily. To cry was a sign of weakness that had Thiazzi quickly taught her when she had joined his gang.  
She knew that she had been used, she was no idiot. Thiazzi had known what she'd have to go through to get that bread and had sent her away anyway.  
Okay, she wasn't hurt anymore she was angry as hell._

_In her anger she threw the door to their hideout open and slammed the door shut after her. The dozens boys in the room stared at her in alarm, they had been scared out of their wits by her fit of rage. She smirked, content with herself. _

"_Whoa, whoa! Calm down, will ya'!" Thiazzi approached with hand up in defense. She suggested that he should visit the hot and dark place in the underworld. Some boys that played cards at a table close to them sniggered. Thiazzi saw the brown paper bag in her hand and brightened up. _

"_Atta, girl!" He cried happily. "I know you would do it!" She continued to glare at the oblivious asshole. Thiazzi tried to take the bag from her but she quickly pulled it away. Thiazzi looked up at her confused. _

"_What's up with you?" He said and noticed for the first time the look she gave him. She rolled her eyes angrily. _

"_You knew the man was a perverted dick, didn't you?" She accused him still as angrily. Thiazzi shrugged without the smallest hint of guilt. She gaped at him. She just couldn't believe this f*cking asshole. _

"_And still you sent me out to him? What kind of asshole does that?" She cried frustrated. _

"_A hungry one!" Thiazzi answered just as frustrated. "I'm hungry, they're hungry…" Thiazzi pointed backwards at the other boys. "… and __**you're **__hungry too! It's drought in the whole country and we that normally don't have enough food are starving more than ever now! If I see a chance to get us food, I'll take it! Even if it costs your virginity!" The whole room quieted efficiently at the 'v'-word. Her cheeks flushed against her will, but luckily Thiazzi's did too. _

"_Look…" Thiazzi sighed. "We're a family and families look after each other and work together to get things to work. Families aren't selfish, they don't have anything that's their own and they share." _

"_Oh, so my virginity is for you to take advantage of? That's not selfish at all!" She hissed. She refused to let Thiazzi's family-drabble get to her. _

"_Ya' know I didn't mean it like that." Thiazzi answered calmly. "Now, are you goin' to give me that bread or what?" She glared at him but threw the brown paper bag to him anyway. _

"_There you go! Enjoy the meal!" And with that she stamped out of the room. She wasn't hungry anymore.  
She heard a loud sigh and feet that rushed to catch up with her. _

"_What?" She turned around to face Thiazzi once again. She smirked cotently for herself when he jumped at her tone. _

"_What the hell is your problem?" Thiazzi cried frustrated when he recovered from the fright. _

"_**My problem **__is that you people use my… body…" God, this was so awkward. "…to get something you want without even asking me about it!" _

"_Would you have let us?" Thiazzi asked with a raised eyebrow. _

"_No." The word sounded like 'of course not, you moron.'_

"_You see? I would never have got you to go to that stand and get us any bread if I had told you about the seller first." Thiazzi began to grow impatient, why was she always making such a scene?_

"_So? We could have worked something out! That's what __**families **__do, isn't it?" She said in a mocking voice. Thiazzi rolled his eyes. _

"_No, we couldn't. Don't you understand? The whole country is in loss of food and I need to feed my crew. Please just let this go" Thiazzi begged. She looked at him for a while before she sighed and sunk down on the floor. Thiazzi hesitated awhile before he sat down with her on the floor too. _

"_I still hate you, though." She said but then grinned at him. She wasn't serious, that crazy, oblivious, idiotic asshole was her family. Thiazzi grinned back at her._

"_I hate you too, __**Tenten**__._

…

Tenten sat up, breathless, with a heart that hammered in her chest painfully and sweating although the room felt damn cold. She closed her eyes and tried to slow the pace of her heart down at the same time as she taught herself how to breathe. _In… out… in…out_. Both her heart and her breathings were slowly returning to normal.  
She let out a sigh and crashed back into her bed, looking up on the ceiling and focused on to count the beams in her roof but her brain was a constant reminder of the dream.

She had gotten all too little rest in the past days she quickly decided was the reason for that dream. Tsunade's constant drivel about demons and Torau's 'training' had leaded her to exhaustion, which had let her in its turn to unlikely dreams. It was nothing else but that.  
Just a dream brought to her by a mind that needed rest. Yep.

* * *

**You'd after such a long wait I'd give you a more exciting chapter but noooooooooo, not me. But hey, at least it's longer than the others! That counts!... ****right?**


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